Story: Ready for Battle
Story: Ready for Battle is a story about Trey Exanus and Titanus readying for the chaos of Emiria. The first paragraph of each Chapter is narrated by Trey Exanus. Prologue Clop Clop. The hooves of the white stallion sounded.'' Clop Clop''. "This is it. Good bye Winterwind." The rider of the horse, a tall cloaked man, got off of his horse and pulled a knapsack off of its back. He then ushered the stallion away, just like that. "West Malca Port." He said to himself, removing his hood. His shaggy hair was long and untrimmed. His eyes were a light shade of brown, like that of a Lion's. He snuck through the port, across the wooden platforms in the dark. He hoped nobody was still around. He knew how much security the west had. Minatio he said, as his body slowly faded away into thin air. He had gotten good at magic recently, he studied for days straight in solitude as he waited for the day to come. He focused mainly in fire spells, but he did learn the invisibility spell, just in case. He didn't want to die for the third time. The man began to reappear as he walked along the wooden bridges. "You there!" said a voice in the distance. The man turned around quickly. He saw several archers aiming at him. He quickly put on his hood, and picked up his pace. "Stop! This is the Malyion Guard! We order you to stop now!" He did not stop, instead he ran faster. "Minatioien!" he said as he ran from the guards. He faded away again. He saw it in the distance, a small boat in the distance. He could make it. He heared arrows whizzing towards him, although none got particularily close, mainly because he was invisible. Again, he began to reappear. He muttered a curse and sprinted down to the end of the dock. They were catching up now; footsoldiers were running down the platform. He turned around and yelled, "Spepyro!" as he raised his arm toward the soldiers. A glowing ball of flames illuminated the night as it smashed into two or three guards, who all jumped into the water to put out the flames. Again he yelled, "Spepyro!" and launched a ball of fire at the running soldiers. Whizz. ''An arrow came darting down, pelting the man in the theigh. He held his cry; he had to make it. Limping, he rushed to the boat, it was so close. At last, he made it. He hopped into the boat, cut the rope with a knife he pulled from his belt, and he was off. ''I'm coming Titanus. Coming to Xenox. Chapter 1: 31st of Frostfall "Water. That's all I see for miles. It's early in the morning, the sun isn't up yet, but it will be soon. I just need to keep heading west. I just wonder why Titanus can't just fly back or teleport back. Something seems fishy." -Trey Exanus Trey had been on the sea now for about 6 hours and he wasn't anywhere near Xenox. Every now and then he would yell "Spepyro!" into the dawn sky and watch as a fire ball jet out from his hand, releasing the flame into the sky. He tried other spells, too. Every know and then he would see a fish in the water and try to catch it with a spell. First, he would say "Kia!", killing the fish instantly, and then he would cast Minamou ''and pull the fish out of the water with his mind. And then he would have a fresh meal, once he cooked it with a simple fire spell. This didn't always work; the first time he tried this, he accidentaly cast the pain spell on himself. The next time, he killed the fish, successfully brought it out of the water, but overcooked it a bit. His whole boat almost caught on fire. It was 12 hours now since Trey had last seen land. It was almost noon now. Trey had been practicing magic and thinking about what his plan was. He would arrive at Xenox, try to get a hold of Titanus and work from there. Once Titanus is freed, Titanus could fly them back to Emiria in under a few hours. They would go to the North, and help the Wintreys with whatever they needed. But he wouldn't stay there forever. No, he was going to find Hasina. He felt an urge to find her. He was sure she wasn't at the keep of the Styrke. Something told him she wouldn't still be there. Was she still searching for Deathbringer? Maybe, but all Trey needed to know was that she was safe, and he didn't know that. Was it love? Maybe. Probably. Trey knew he had feelings for her, but he rejected it. For some reason he couldn't face the fact that he was in love. Chapter 2: 42nd of Frostfall "Ugh. I miss land. I'm getting tired of eating bread and fish all day. I'm getting tired of seeing blue wherever I look. I miss land. I miss my home. I see something in the distance. Its not an island it looks like a boat. A war galley. I'm going to sail to it and see what its all about. Maybe I can score some treasure?" -Trey Exanus Indeed, it was a war galley. Trey was not scared; he was excited. If he could pull this off, he would arrive in Xenox much faster and have some loot. In an hour or so, he had arrived at the stagnant galley. The ship had many men on it, about ten. They all watched Trey's small boat come in towards it. "Rowboat starboard!" A man yelled. He wielded a fine steel sword and had a set of armor of leather. "Aye. Just let em on board. Gladius could always use more riders ay? Of course, it keeps the coin rollin in." Another man said. This one had a long white beard and chestplate made of some blue stone. His blade had the same bluish stone on it, but the handle seemed to be a lighter, different blue. He commanded a man to drop down a rope for Trey so he could climb onto the ship, which he did, with caution. Trey got his sword and climbed the rope. He knew he was going to be ambushed, but he was ready. He cast the spell ''Minatio on his sword, keeping it invisible from the people on the ship until needed. "Thank you, thank you so much." Trey said, hoping he could act his way in this. "I need food. I'm so hungry. And thirsty. I havn't eaten for days." The shipcrew laughed. "You're not going to need food where you're going." whispered one man in a voice Trey couldn't hear. "Please. Food to spare?" Trey said. The bearded man approached Trey. "Of course we have food to spare. But we aren't ones to give hand outs. You see, we have a problem. There is... something down at the bottom of the ship. Don't know what it is. But it has teeth. Big teeth. Clear our problem and you take all the food you need." Trey nodded. "Deal." Chapter 3: 42nd of Frostfall "Its dark down here. Place reeks of death. The men told me they sent one of the men down to this cellar earlier but he didn't come back up. They heard screaming. And then the whole ship shook and quaked and there was a big roar. The bearded man went down there and he saw a big lizard look at him, licking blood off his teeth. And he says he ran back up before the thing pounced on him. So once I kill this big lizard, i'll go up, collect my reward and kill them all. And then i'll collect my actual reward." -Trey Exanus Creaak. The cracked stairs lead Trey down further into the cellar. Moss grew up the walls. Barnacles rest on the ground. Surely, it was just a joke. There was nothing down here, Trey thought. But then he saw blood. A deep red puddle of blood next to a torso and some arms. The head and legs were probably torn off by whatever did this. Soon he heard a noise. It was like a gurgling noice. The wooden cellar floor slanted down; something broke the bottom of the ship, revealing a big open hole of sea water leading into the ocean. Big claw marks were painted along the wall, complemented with bloody stains. And then a Swuuuuushhhh, he heard. Something was wading through the water. Coming closer. Swuuuush and then he heard the gurgling again. Closer. And closer. And then a big scaly reptilian face jumped out on to Trey for the kill. Clang! Was the sound of the sword Trey swung banging against the front tooth of the baby Behemur. Blood dropped from the cut in the sea beast's whitish gums. The big beady eyes showed little pain and focused on Trey. He lunged forward again, attempting to bite at Trey's legs, only to have his eye pierced with pure steel edge. The creature gave out a howl and raised a webbed claw from under the water. He slashed Trey's chest and smashed a piece of the cellar floor to show his anger. "Agh... I'm not giving up yet!" Trey declared, limping back. He raised his off hand and yelled out, "Pyro!" launching a jet of flames at the baby behemur. The sea lizard roared with pain and dove down under the water, fleeing. "Not so fast!" Trey yelled, as he casted one last spell. He hadn't dare use this spell before, it was too powerful. But he had too kill this thing, for his own pride. "Kiaae!!!" a jet of scarlet red energy bolt from Trey's hand, crashing into the escaping behemur before it was completely submerged into the water. "KRAAAGHHHHHH!!!!!!" The reptile screeched, in pain. Dying pain. Trey limped up to the deck; he was physically and magically exhausted. The gash on his chest seeped blood through his tunic. He would cast a healing spell on it, but he was too tired. "Well looky here. Hungry's killed us a sea lizard." said the bearded captain. His crew laughed. The captain handed Trey a big piece of bread. "Gratz Hungry. Take this. The rest of the food is in the sleepin quarters." He pointed to a stairway leading down. Trey nodded. Trey decided he would go down, come back up pretending he got what he needed, thank the men, and kill them. He walked down towards the stairway and took a bite of the bread. Instantly, everything began to slow down. He heard laughing and turned around slowly to see the captain. Trey got dizzy, colors fading away from everything. Everything blurred up and Trey was out. Poison. Chapter 4: 49th of Frostfall "I don't remember much. I remember the ship. The bearded man with the blue sword. I remember the cellar. That damn behemur. The giant claw mark is still here, outlined in dark crusty dry blood. I remember talking to the bearded man and walking down to the living courters. Nothing after that is recallable. I'm in a small cell. There is some wierd gauntlet brace thing on my right arm. Its letting out some wierd hum. It seems to be emitting a magical aura. It's cold and damp and there is a guard watching me. I ask him questions; he yells shut up. The only thing he answered was "How long have I been here?" He just looked at me funny and said "Eh I dunno a week?". I have no idea how to escape. I tried casting a spell but nothing works. Perhaps it is the brace? Probably. I wonder where they are taking me." -Trey Exanus "Ay heres yer grub." The guard yells to Trey. He tosses him a small piece of bread through the bars like an animal. Trey is cautious to eating this one; wondering where he'll end up next. He rips off a small piece of the stale, crunchy bread and bites. Fine. "Eat up now Hungry." the guard laughs. "Where are you guys taking me?" Trey asks, dropping the bread. "No clue lad. They offered some coin to me a while back to work on this ship for a while." Trey looked puzzled. "They?" The guard nodded. "Some Korlath fella and his friend. His friend said something about dragons at Xenox. Whatever that means. We were to patrol the seas around some island taking any prisoners to the island." Xenox? Dragons? Trey thought. This probably has something to do with Titanus, Trey thought. "Dragons, eh?" Trey asked casually. "Yeah, said they were preparing for war. I don't care much for politics. They paid me some pretty coin for this job. Said we could go back home when Emiria belongs to Tytos." Trey nodded. So this is Tytos Korlath's doing. I bet he's using dragons for the war, though Trey. "I like you." said the guard. "Better than the last one." Last one?, Trey thought. "There are more prisoners?" asked Trey. "Oh yeah. There are about twenty down at the island." "Why are they keeping prisoners at the island?" Trey asked. He need as much information as he could get. "Don't know. Yes they pay me a pretty coin, but only captain knows that one. I'm just a man who carries out captain's orders. You want real answers, go ask captain." "And like that's gonna happen soon." "With this it is!" said the guard, tossing Trey a key. He couldn't believe it, now he just had to kill that captain. He could interrogate him first if he got the chance. Trey unlocked the cell door, put on his armor and took his sword, which was all in a big chest beside his cell. However, he couldn't manage to get the brace off. It seemed to prevent Trey from using magic. Oh well, Trey thought, I can go one fight without magic, or dying. Trey said his farewells to the friendly guard and was off. He was going to get some answers. Chapter 5: 49th of Frostfall "Its late night and i'm not planning on any rest soon. I just watched beardy enter his Captain's Quarters. My plan is to cast an invisibilty spell, sneak in, put a knife to his throught while he is in bed, and interrogate him about what he knows about his bosses, Xenox, the dragons, the Dragon Riders, and why Korlath is involved. And maybe something about Titanus. Then i'll cut his throat and maybe head down to the sleeping quarters and slay some more, just in case anyone blames something on me." -Trey Exanus Indeed, the captain had just closed his eyes and fallen asleep. Trey waited at the door until he thought it was good. Eventually, Trey whispered Minatioien and faded away. He quietly opened the door, snuck through and approached the captain's bed. Something urged him to slit his throat before questioning him, but he resist. He needed answers. He tip-toed around the bed, and put the captain in a headlock, waking him up. He put a knife to his throat, letting him feel the cold blade. "You talk, you die. Right here, right now." The man nodded. Trey loosened his headlock, but didn't let his guard down. "Where is this ship headed?" Trey asked calmly. The captain spat on Trey for an answer. He wiped it off with his knife hand and said sternly, "We can do it the way where one of us ends up dead...". Trey whispered Kia ''and sent pain rushing through beardy. "...or we can both live. Your choice. Just keep on spittin' and you'll be dead in a second. Answer me, and I might let you free." "So what's it gonna be?" Trey asked. "The ship's head to Xenox. We're not too far from it right now." beardy said, nervously. "I thought so. Now why are we heading there?" "A man hired me to patrol the surrounding seas of the island. We got a little of track when a damn sea lizard broke our ship. We ain't gonna make it to Xenox too fast with that hole." "Who hired you?" "Some foreigner. He said something about if I refuse the job some Korlath men would come for me head. I hate them damn foriegners." "Anything else?" Trey asked, hopping to get something about Titanus. "Yeah, actually, he did mention something about dragons. Hell, I couldn't understand half what he was saying, he had some North accent." "Dragons? Maybe they have dragons at Xenox?" Trey questioned, urging for more information. "Hmmm... now that I think about it, he did say something like that. Said they need help patroling the area around Xenox so nobody finds out about the dragons they're training for the war. They're training them for House Korlath." "Did this man have a name?" "Ehh... nope. Maybe? What was it? Glazios? Gladios? Gladius! That's it. Tall fellow. Gladius the Dragon Rider." "Dragon Riders? I've heard of them... somewhere. They're a group of dracomancers from Emirion. Plot to take over Emiria. Maybe they alligned with the Korlath because the Korlaths have power and money and the Riders have dragons for the war. So the Dragon Riders are fighting for the South." "Something like that?" the captain said. "Well thanks. I guess you get to live." Trey said. "Yes I do. You don't though." said the captain, just as his blue armor and sword appeared. They were hidden there; invisible the whole time. It was an invisibility spell. He had planned this. Someone had told the captain Trey was coming. Trey put two and two together and realized it was the guard who informed him about Trey. He betrayed Trey. Chapter 6: 50th of Frostfall "SPEPYRO!" the captain yelled, sending a bolt of fire at Trey with his free-hand. It missed is leg by less than an inch, but it did light the deck on fire. Like Trey, the captain was a Spellsword: one who alternates between a sword and a spell. He seemed of a higher level mage than Trey, however. He casted stronger spells and it didn't affect him as much. At this point Trey only ran from his enemy. His target was fully armed, while Trey had a dark hood and a knife. He ran down to the place where he had been locked up, dodging fireballs. By then, the deck was burning and at this rate the ship would burn down in minutes. Upon entering the jail area, Trey saw the guard. "Still alive, eh?" said the guard, pulling out a sword. Without hesitation, Trey threw his knife, jabbing the guard in the neck. He was dead in a beat. Trey quickly pulled his sword and the knife, turned around, only to find that he was cornered. The captain had just made it down, and had some friends. Two awakened crew members had joined the captain in his fight against Trey. They were all armed with fine steel swords. "This is the end." the captain said. Trey shook his head and quickly flung the knife at one of the men, killing him. He ran in and jumped, slashing his sword at another man, leaving a big bloody tear, as the captain began his attack. Beardy struck Trey in the back with a strong hit, leaving a giant gash. ''OW! Did his sword just shock me?, ''Trey thought. Indeed, the sword the captain wields had a dangerous property. The blade was made of Aquxium, a blue mineral that shocked whatever touched it. The shock could also travel through metals, like a sword. The captain's armor was also made of Aquxium. Trey banged his sword against the captain's blue armor, soon realizing that his armor was also made of Aquxium, so the energy traveled through Trey's blade and still shocked him. The captain laughed at Trey, who kept getting zapped by the armor. Soon enough, Trey understood he had to use magic for this battle. "''Kia!" Trey yelled. The captain halted, stunned by the pain for a few seconds. This was a perfect chance, Trey thought. "Pyroae!" Try yelled as a jet of fire poured out of his fingertips. The flames singed the captain's body, leaving ash along his face. "Won't...ever...die!!!" the captain roared, battering his sword into Trey's chest, also shocking Trey. Trey screamed and fell down. The captain, who's face was smeared with blood and ash, laughed and said, "Let Mortis have no mercy on your soul!" readying for his final blow. He raised his Aquxium sword high, just as flames crawled up around them. "And may you be ever punished in the Abyss!" Just before he could swing death upon Trey, the floors collapsed, burnt to ash from the flames, and the two men fell down through the floor into the water below. Chapter 7: 52 of Frostfall "Great. Absolutely great. My interrogation almost got me killed and I almost drowned! After the floor collapsed in from the flames, I did manage to hop on a wooden board and I am currently using it as a raft and I hope i'm going in the right direction. At this rate I might just make it to Xenox before Firstleaf." -Trey Exanus And Trey had thought the boat was bad. He had no food but he did manage to catch fish with that trick he had learned a while back. He removed salts from water by heating it with one hand and levitating it with the other. Lucky for Trey, he wasn't far from Xenox. He began to see it in the distance. After hours and hours of watching the tiny spec change into a nearby island, Trey was ready. It was almost the next day by then, but Trey refused to sleep. He was still scared of a Behemur preying on him, especially since he had no sword. Finally, Xenox was within distance. The climate suddenly shifted from around 40 degrees F to 10. Eventually the raft crashed against an icy shore and Trey was ready. He didn't know what to expect, besides dragons. He was nervous. The hooded warrior cast an invisibility spell just to keep himself hidden from anything. He was beggining to get good at those. He saw a large fort in the distance. The cobblestone fort ahead had a unique flag on it. It was a red flag with a purple dragon skull on it and the letters 'DR'. Trey realized it meant Dragon Riders. Approaching the fort invisibly proved to be good. He saw several armed men heading out deeper on the island. They were armed with what seemed to be spears made of dragon bones and the tips were dragon teeth. The armor they wore also seemed to be made of dragon scales. He sneaked the brutes, hoping that clues to the location of Titanus was nearby. Trey snuck through the entrance of the absolutely giant fort that was crawiling with armed men, Dragon Riders, Trey presumed. Maybe they were lesser riders and did not have their own dragons yet, or they simply had guard duty. He walked up crickety wooden spiral stairs leading to a small room. Inside was an masked man in greyish tan armor, probably made of dragon bones, like the other men. But he was different. He seemed to have more authority. Trey could just feel the fact that he was more important than the other riders. He had a unique mask he bore on his face, a red metallic looking mask. It was the face of a mock dragon. The rider swung at the dummy with his somewhat crooked sword, chopping off the arm, quickly flipping the sword high into the air, casting a fire spell with his sword hand, incinerating the dummy, and catching the sword. He stuck the dummy instantly when he caught the sword, rendering the dummy nothing but powdery ash. "You like what you see Terraleik?" the rider said. There was nobody else nearby, was he talking to Trey. "I'm talking to you, Terraleik. Nice invisibility cast, but you'll have to do better than that to fool me, Helios, apprentice of the great rider, Gladius!" He was talking to Trey. The invisibility wore off on command and Trey stood dumbfounded. "And no, none of my stupid guards saw you. They are true idiots... but that's not what we're going to talk about is it? No, you want to know about your Dragon. Titanus." "How do you know about Titanus?" Trey demanded. "Believe me, we didn't ask him. Look, I'll tell you the whole thing. A group of scouting riders were searching the island when boom, a big spark of some 'blue magic' as they recall appears, and a big dragon comes down from a portal. He is barely alive and vulnerable. So they capture him bring em' down here and put him in a big cage. FIre proof. Magic proof. Made of an Aquixium alloy. In about an hour or so, he begins to talk. In his sleep. He racks off a few names, including Trey. He was saying something like, 'Trey come. Trey I've been captured, but I'm alive. I teleported off somewhere snowy at the last second. Xenox I think? It doesn't matter, but I need help getting out here. Please, we don't have much time...'" The man begins to laugh. "Funniest thing ever. Now are you ready to rescue your dragon? Well you're gonna have to make it through me." Immediately, a ball of ice comes down, shattering into Trey's neck. Chapter 8: End "I don't know where I am. I'm not dead, neither alive. I am somewhere in the middle. I am held captive here in this endless white plain of nothing and nothingness. Every few minutes I hear a loud, loud roar from far away that sounds like a dragon. Suddenly my stomach begins to pain, my heart begins to pound. I begin to become very sleepy..." -Trey Exanus And it was true, Trey was in the magic plane of the limbo. He had died, but instead of entering the plane of the dead, he was sentanced to the limbo, as a prison. Or was it something else? Was it a rest? Regardless of reason, how was he in the limbo? The limbo was only a mythical place... or was it? Category:Zeokx Category:Fiction